Inteplast ends annual conference on positive note

Did you know ...?

Inteplast participates in more than 25 market segments of plastic production. Here are some of the products produced from those plastics:

• Food service bags and gloves

• Food service containers

• Medical-grade plastic bags

• Corrugated plastics

• Synthetic wood for decking or molding

• Supermarket and retail shopping bags

• Produce bags

PORT LAVACA - When John Young visits his favorite grocery store, he spends a lot of time looking at packaging - everything from the plastic label on a Gatorade bottle to the plastic bags the products are taken home in.

"I see all the different products that Inteplast makes," said the co-founder and president of the plastics company.

Young and about 300 engineers, technicians, managers and employees of Inteplast met in Port Lavaca this week at the Bauer Community Center during the Inteplast Group Manufacturing Conference and Exposition to talk about the company's growth and achievements.

The Lolita site was the first manufacturing plant Inteplast opened in 1991, Young said, and is its largest plant today.

There are 2,230 employees who work at the Lolita site, Brenda Wilson, director of communications, said.

The success of the company, Young said, can be attributed to the culture the company has built from the ground up.

"We encourage our people to run their programs and achieve goals," he said.

During the conference, the engineers and mangers presented their plant's processes while others shared critiques to provide solutions and improve efficiency, said Young.

Each plant produces different kind of plastics, but the processes are similar, he said.

"We listen to each other, and it becomes a translation between the groups," he said.

Inteplast is continuing to grow, Young said. It has 37 plants in North America that produce plastic that goes into products ranging from plastic to-go containers to medical biohazard bags.

Years ago, Young said he was proudest of the company when it was producing 80 percent of the plastic "Thank You" bags in the market.

"It was considered a low-end product then," he said about the Inteplast's beginning. "This has been an amazing journey."